‘Whole house rattled’: Earthquake felt by thousands
There were multiple reports of minor damage after the quake, which was felt hundreds of kilometres away. Photos: Facebook/Instagram
School have been evacuated and a coal mine closed after an earthquake rattled the NSW Hunter Valley on Friday.
The quake hit Denman, about three hours north of Sydney in the upper Hunter region, at 12.02pm on Friday.
It was initially assessed at magnitude 5, but that was later downgraded to 4.8. Geoscience Australia said the epicentre was in Wollemi National Park.
Thousands of people reported feeling the quake in an area spanning hundreds of kilometres from south of Sydney to the NSW mid-north coast. It included more than 2000 reports from people 200 kilometres away in Sydney.
The NSW State Emergency Service said it had received several calls to the state operations centre following tremor.
It said several buildings had suffered broken windows and other minor damage. Two Hunter Valley schools were reportedly evacuated after power was cut across the region.
“Crews are currently responding to reports of minor infrastructure damage in Maitland and Muswellbrook and are proactively contacting dam owners in the region to ensure the integrity of the dams has not been affected,” the SES wrote on Facebook.
There were no reports of serious damage or injury.
A woman in Muswellbrook said there were multiple shocks from around midday.
“There were two [and it was] not just a tremor, it was a massive earthquake,” she told Sydney radio 2GB.
“The whole house rattled, and then about half a minute later, it rattled again.
“I actually thought it was my new kitten knocking down some things.”
Another Muswellbrook woman, Beryl Hartin, said she was too scared to move after the quake hit.
“There was this boom and the whole house and the front fell off the air-conditioner,” she told the ABC.
“I wasn’t game to move because I didn’t know what else would fall down. My legs are still like jelly and I’ve got a neighbour here who’s exactly the same.
“It was a bit frightening, actually, but I knew straight away it was an earthquake.”
The Muswellbrook Mitre 10 posted photos of products tossed from its shelves with the caption: “Well, that was epic, wasn’t it? We hope everyone across the community is OK.”
The local Aldi was also damaged, with a customer reporting part of its roof had fallen in.
Muswellbrook Shire Council confirmed power was out in some areas, although was expected to be restored quickly on Friday afternoon. It also warned some parts of the town, which is about 20 minutes’ drive from Denman, might have had their water cut off.
Another man more than three hours’ drive away at Cranebrook in western Sydney also felt multiple shocks, but said the earthquake “wasn’t massive”.
The Bureau of Meteorology said there was no tsunami threat due to the earthquake.
-with AAP
